Each Moment
by wannyanpu
Summary: Asuka's confused. Understandably so. She didn't know who she is, but found herself attending the Academy. She meets an ominous new student, and yet feels like she knows her even though they haven't met, and befriends her. She keeps getting splitting headaches for who knows why, and her best friend leaves her. As for the confusing part? She finds out that she isn't real anymore.
1. Graduation Isn't the End

**Each Moment**

**Chapter One: Graduation Isn't The End**

* * *

"Alright class." A familiar voice called. Nekono Asuka turned her head away from her notes to see Iruka-sensei, her teacher. He had finished a mind-boring monologue (Okay, it was just about the shape of shuriken. It almost bored her to death anyway, what was the difference?) "Now that that's done, let's welcome the new transfer student!"

_ Hey, shouldn't that have been done first?_ Asuka silently wondered.

"Come on in, Miss Mataki!" Iruka said. A girl walked into the class, with two long, straight black ponytails and startlingly electric blue eyes... but there was something about them. Before Asuka could figure out what it was, the girl turned to face the class. She was cute. Not beautiful, but Takashi would've-no, bad example. Takashi fell in love with _every _girl he met. Asuka blinked. She swore she had seen this girl before, but all the details were fuzzy.

"Now then, why don't you introduce yourself?" Iruka asked.

"My name is Yuki Mataki. Pleased to meet you." Iruka wrote her name on the blackboard. She gave a small nod of her head, and then turned her head towards Asuka. Asuka shyly turned her head away but then looked back. She _was._

_New girl was staring straight at her._

"Uh... Mataki-san?" Iruka asked her.

* * *

"Your hair is really long." a familiar pink-headed girl admired slightly, sweeping with her own pink hair which may or may not have been modest.

"What kind of shampoo do you use?" A blonde said.

"She has a mysterious air to her, doesn't she?" Sarutobi Tazuki asked at the other side of the room, simultaneously tapping her leg in rhythm to a unknown tune as Ikeda Akiko and Asuka stared at the girls crowding around the new transfer student.

"Hey, Asu-nyan, do you know her?" Ikeda Akiko asked. "It might just be me, but it was like she was looking at you earlier."

"Well... um..." Asuka stuttered, rubbing the back of her blonde cat ears.

"I'm sorry." the Mataki claimed. "I think today's been a little stressful for me. I'm not feeling very well. Would you allow me to excuse myself to the Nurses' Office?"

"Oh! I'll show you the way there." Sakura said, taking the incentive to get above her rival.

"No, I've been at this academy for a bit. I can show you." Ino claimed.

"No, you don't need to trouble yourselves. I'll just ask the Nurses' Aide to take me." Yuki said, and walked towards Nekono Asuka.

"You are the Nurses' Aide, aren't you? May I ask you to accompany me on my walk?" she asked invitingly.

* * *

On the way there, Asuka nervously stared at Mataki-san. "Um... how did you know I was the Nurses' Aide?" she asked, _'showing Yuki_' to the Nurses' Office, even though it looked like she already knew where it was considering she was in the lead. After a slightly extended pause, she replied, "Iruka-sensei told me." whether she was lying or not Asuka couldn't tell.

"Oh, I see!" Asuka said, trying to be cheerful. "Oh, um, the Nurses' Office is..." Asuka started as they turned right on the crossroads.

"This way, am I correct?" Yuki asked.

"Y-Yeah, that's right... Um.. it looks like you already know how to get there..." Asuka said. She had no response. "Um... Mataki-san?" she asked.

"What is it?" Yuki replied, turning her head slightly.

"Well... um... that's an unusual name...! O-Oh, but not in a bad way. It sounds kind of cool! No pun intended*..."

Yuki turned. "Asuka Nekono, do you value the life as you live it now? You like your family and friends?"

"Yes, I do. Both my family and friends... I love all of them, and consider them very precious!" Asuka replied with a infectious smile.

"Do you really?" asked Yuki.

"Yes, clear! I can't lie about that!" Asuka exclaimed, slightly getting intimidated by new girl.

"I see. If that's really the case, then you wouldn't try to change the person you currently are, would you? Because if you do, you'll end up losing all of it. You should stay as you are, Nekono Asuka. Stay as you are, and as you always shall be." She said, turning around and leaving.

* * *

Seeing that it was unusually cool for a late July morning, Nekono Asuka decided to do some shopping. Stepping outside, on her way to the sushi shop before the exams, she was met by a dispirited grey featureless sky that had recently rained, but seemed to no longer have any purpose other than to look gloomy.

It was going to rain, and it was exam day. It was going perfect already.

She stopped for a moment, and figured it would be natural to wear her rain jacket today. She stepped back inside and grabbed her magenta coat and stepped back outside.

It wasn't that she was bad at creating clones. She could create at least five without running out of chakra. No one really cared. Everyone was fixated on this Uchiha Sasuke.

She couldn't deny he was full of talent. Much more than plain old her. He wasn't ugly, but she wouldn't exactly consider him Mr. Gorgeous, either. He was just like an annoying prick she had to stand. Until today.

She'd finally get the relief from Sasuke-kun and everyone else in the class who bother her.

She'd finally be free.

She spun in a circle with her arms spread out giddily as she walked into the class with a jubilant look on her face. She sat by her friend Kiba.

She pulled out some notes and sat upright in her chair. She was usually sitting in the middle section like this.

Now, it's true that many people don't like the Academy—or any public schooling, for that matter—and their reasons are many, varied and compelling: the shouting, the waiting, the sitting, the bullies, the jostling in and out; any number of phobias can be activated in any sort of school. That wasn't the case for Asuka. She saw it as an adventure of observation, and occasionally, as a safari into the meadow of human comedy.

It was quite humorous, though. (That is, considering she was one on the sidelines.) Uzumaki Naruto's slightly obnoxious vows to become Hokage, Uchiha Sasuke putting up with it, Haruno Sakura and Yamanaka Ino (At least, most notably.) Begging for love confessions with Uchiha Sasuke.

It would've been the perfect love triangle. Naruto hated Sasuke, who hated Sakura, who hates Naruto, who loves her, while she loves Sasuke... if only Sasuke loved Naruto. Instead, Hinata did. It was kind of boring and obnoxious that it was so obvious who liked who and that most of them were completely clueless about it...

She looked around some more, to a girl with perfectly straight black ponytails, leaning back in a chair slightly tilted, with her feet on the desk as she faced the outdoors. She didn't have friends, really... she was acquaintance to everyone.

Tazuki sat down next to her. "What're you doing, Asu-nyan?" she asked.

"Watching little dogs play." Asuka claimed. "Where have you been?"

"Listening to music." Tazuki replied with a nonchalant shrug. "I only had like, a bagel to eat for breakfast because I was late."

"What music?" Asuka asked, not looking at her but sorting out her things.

"That's a secret," she teased.

"Hi~!" Akiko said sweetly, coming in from outside. Her sweet etiquette was cute, and let many adore her. On first glance, Kiko-chan was the kind of person who would set the perfect example. Adored by boys, cute, and her motto "Hai, ma'am!" or, "Hai, sir!" was so _kawaii._ But if she was put in battle, or was angered, for that matter, she was like a Beelzebub incarnate. And her red/magenta hair emphasized that. "What're you doooing?" she asked, lengthening her O's to make it linger and cute. She took a seat, filling the third slot.

"Waiting for exams." Tazuki said, adding a fake yawn to try and highlight her boredom.

"All right, take your seats!" the long-awaited voice of Iruka-sensei called out. All those who had meandered around followed the orders and took a seat in the three-row benches.

"We will begin the exams... _now._ First up is..." Iruka called. Asuka sat back. She was an N. It would be a while until she was called. She sat back and rubbed the back of her cat ears. She watched Tazuki scribble notes and drawings in her books while she waited.

"Himeno, Shirayuki." A girl with long white hair stood up at the front of the class, and created three clones efficiently.

"Ikeda, Akiko." Iruka called. The redhead stood up. "Yessir!" she called in her cute voice. She stood up in front of the class and focused her chakra. Before her eyes, there wasn't one, but three Akiko's. No one was surprised. Asuka stuck out her bottom lip and nodded her head. _Not bad._

They called out a few more names, until they reached M. "Mataki, Yuki?"

The Mataki let her seat drop firmly, then stood up and walked to the class. She made two clones before Iruka-sensei instructed her to, then after about a proximity of five seconds, so he could evaluate, then dispelled them and walked back to her seat.

"Uh... Nekono, Asuka?" he called, and Asuka stood, nearly jumping out of her seat. She hopped down the steps, which made everyone laugh. She stood in front of Iruka awaiting orders.

"Nekono Asuka, please create two clones using a clone technique." Iruka said.

Asuka quickly did as such. Iruka scribbled the results on his paper. "Next is..." he continued with his long line of names.

After everyone had went, Iruka picked up his sheets. "Okay. Congratulations," he called another long line of names... "you are now official ninja of Konohagakure." He handed everyone who had passed a Konoha forehead protector.

"Can we put this wherever we want?" Yuki asked. "Foreheads would be protective, but if it slid down it would just get in the way."

"Yes, you can." he replied. Asuka perked up at this answer. "Wait, seriously?! So we can turn it into just... anything? Like a collar?!"

"Yes, that would be alright, as long as it signifies you're part of Konoha."

"Sweet!" she said, and hung it tightly around her neck.

"Er, I don't... think that's a good idea." Said Yuki. "If a rogue ninja pulls it back, you'll die."

"Oh, right... I'll get it changed and then put it on. That'd be okay, right, sensei?"

"Yeah, that'd be okay, I guess. As long as it's still visible." the sensei replied. "Anyway, you are all dismissed and will meet your new, Jounin sensei tomorrow. Class dismissed."

With that, the class lost proper etiquette and started leaving.

* * *

The Third Hokage pressed his lips against each other in a thin line after reading the name.

It wasn't that it was uncommon, no. Her name popped up a lot. She was famous, almost. The Leopard of Konoha, teaching them. She was cursed. Why would she want to be a Jounin sensei, after all the incidents? Not to mention her request of students. He couldn't decline, however. There were more girls this year than last. This was a second-timer. But three girls on her Team wouldn't work out. Sure, the last one was long ago, and successful for a long period of time, but these three.

All of them had a Kekkai Genkai. Two of them had chakra that surpassed the nine-tails itself. One of them had a seal. It completely broke the balance of their "equal team" dealings. But then again, they were all girls. Would this really work out? Girls _were _usually weak... but no. That girl was probably the most promising female.

"Hyo, Ayaka." Sandaime called. A girl with light-brown hair tied in a ponytail stood a few inches in front of her previous spt. Her hair was in a single ponytail, but that ponytail split into two parts that ended up intertwining with each other 1/4th near the end. Her yellow/brown eyes looked at it.

"Yes?" she asked in her sweet voice. Sandaime took a quick breath.

"Accepted." He answered. She smiled.

"Arigato.**" she replied. He handed her the sheets.

* * *

Asuka stayed in the room after lunch/school with Akiko and Tazuki. They hadn't expected it to end so early. And in the corner was Yuki Mataki, who was bringing out her rice and fried egg mix.

"You know, I kind of feel bad for her. I'd hate to sit alone." Tazuki said. "At the same time, she kind of freaks me out, the way she can just stand there while she gets all those glares from the Sasuke fangirls..."

Kiko-chan gave a cute giggle. "Yes, you're right."

"Hey! That's mean. She can probably hear us too." Asuka claimed.

The Sarutobi sighed. "Whatever... personally, I'm stating my opinion."

A girl with dark hair came in the room. "Oh, sorry. I didn't know someone was here." she said, then paused. "Asu-nyan? Is that you?" she paused, and slapped her face. "Sorry, bad question. Who else has cat ears. You passed, congrats!"

"Oh, crap!" Asuka said, suddenly getting up. She stuffed her chopsticks in her bag and ate the last piece of sushi by hand, stuffing it in her mouth. "Sorry, I reed to go get my hollar harted!" She bolted out of the room, salmon sushi in her mouth.

"Hi, Kenta-san!" Asuka said, arriving at the blacksmiths' workshop.

"Asuka! What're you doin' back here?" He said teasingly.

"I'm a certified ninja now, and we're allowed to make it anyway we want. I was wondering if you could make this into a cute little pendant-square thing that's about this big—" she held up her hands and made a square about 2x2cm "If you're up to it."

"Oh, it's no problem. I'll do it for free." He said, waving his hand as if dismissing the thought.

"Seriously?!" Asuka asked, her eyes lighting up like a lost cat finally making its' way home. "Would you do that, Tachibana-san?!"

"Sure, sure. It's fine. For congratulations for becoming a ninja." He said, grinning.

Tachibana Kenta was a fatherly figure to Asuka. He had a scruffy beard, and red markings on his bald head. He usually wore a cotton blue t-shirt which did nothing to cover up his muscles, but considering he was working over a furnace all day it was a wonder how he didn't burn to death in the first place. She hadn't really ever gotten to see his eyes, but he always kept them shut, so no one did, really. He had a giant bracelet made out of hay (again; apparently heat-resistant against fire...) and an apron, along with muscles the size of motorbikes. None the less, she always would visit him.

She gave him the forehead protector and started running back to the Academy. "Again, thank you so much, Tachibana-san!" she waved.

"See you at 5 AM tomorrow!" He called, waving back. She nodded. He waved until she was out of sight. "Girls these days." he grinned at himself, and turned back to his work. It would be a busy night.

* * *

As Asuka walked towards the Academy to pick up the remains called her bag, she entered the classroom to see her own sensei.

"Oh, Asuka. Thank god you're here." He said. She went over to pick up her bag, and walked back towards him.

"Um, I know this is a somewhat big favor, but I was wondering if you could give this to Sayomi Mataki? She's Yuki's sister. I doubt she'll be home, but give it to Yuki if not, okay? You live in the same direction as her." he asked, and gave her a letter.

"Yes sir." She said, trying to imitate Akiko momentarily, and left.

* * *

"Ah, Asuka!" Tazuki called, catching up with her. "What're you doing?"

"I'm giving this letter to Yuki, from Iruka-sensei."

"Oh! Did she do something wrong?"

"No, no. I don't think so. It's meant to be for Satomi, her sister... or something."

"Ehh?! Well, be careful!" she worried.

"What is it?"

"Well... Mataki-san seems kind of scary. She's got a dark look, and hasn't talked to anyone since her transfer. If you say anything funny, she looks mad... Well either way, be careful, okay?" Tazuki said, and ran back where she came from.

"See you!" Asuka called.

* * *

Asuka stood in front of a door labeled "_Mataki"_

She gulped down her fear and knocked on the door, but there was no answer. "Weird." She said. She put her hand on the door, and finding it was unlocked, opened it.

"E-Excuse me? I'm coming inside..." Asuka said, illegally trespassing. She looked around the room. Two swords, several kunai, several shuriken littered the floor. On the wall was a dart board, with all the shuriken hitting the red. Then she stepped on something. She picked it up. A cute, light blue beaded hair tie, on the side with a small light girls' novel book.

She looked on the bed nearby, seeing Yuki there, lying in it.

"Oh, you were here?" she asked her, when Yuki turned around. Her eyes were closed. She was sleeping. Her eyebrows were pointing upward, as if she were worried about something. Asuka felt her head, which was burning hot.

"You have a fever!" she claimed. "I'd better cool you off..." she took her hand off her forehead and was about to turn, when she mumbled something.

"Why..." she whispered. "I'd rather have died... than you having saved... someone... like me... please... someone... believe me..." a tear dripped down in her sleep. Her eye opened slightly, but then went closed yet again. She was too tired to comprehend what was going on.

When Asuka saw that cute sleeping face, she grew curious to learn more about the girl. What kind of girl was she? What did she like?

Why did she feel so drawn to this girl, like she knew her?

* * *

Yuki woke up to a girl reading her books.

"What are you doing here?!" Yuki yelled, getting up suddenly.

"I'm Nekono Asuka, but you can call me Asu-nyan. Everyone else does—" she said, and pointed to her cat ears. "I came to deliver this." She held up the letter. "It's for your onee-san, Mataki Satomi."

"It's Sayomi," she snapped, "and now you're done here. Please get out."

"I refuse." Asuka said, turning away from her. "I can't leave a sick person all alone... Oh, I know! I should make you something to eat! I'll get some rice porridge ready!" she said, and started walking to the kitchen, leaving Yuki slightly bemused.

Asuka blew on the rice, and then held out the spoon to Yuki. "Here, say 'Aah.'"

Yuki refused to look at Asuka.

"Say 'Aah~!'"

Yuki turned to face Asuka, who was now crying (or at least, pretending to.) Yuki bit her lip.

"I-I went through all the trouble of m-making this for you..." she cried.

"Tch," Yuki complained. "'Aah.'"

Asuka cheered up almost immediately.

* * *

"Okay, what would you like next?" Asuka asked.

"You should leave already." Yuki replied.

"As-u-nya." the cat-girl said, breaking her nickname into syllables.

"Huh?"

"As-u-nya. We're friends now, so you should call me by my name."

"Friends? When did we become friends? I'm sorry, but I don't want to become friends with anyone." _I don't want to be hurt if it happens again. _"Just go home."

"All right, I'm leaving." Asuka said. "Please stay warm and get some sleep." She said, leaving the door.

"Hey." Yuki said, before she left, "thanks... for the porridge... Asu-nyan."

"Of course!" Asuka smiled.

* * *

Yuki walked around to the training field, with footsteps following behind her.

"Hey, just how long are you going to follow me around?" Yuki asked.

"Forever."

"Just do what you want." Yuki said stubbornly.

* * *

Yuki trained, after cutting several logs to no more than splinters, a man came up.

"Hey, Mataki! I heard you were up with a fever!" he said. Both Asuka and Yuki faced the other way.

"My body has cooled down a bit." she used the excuse.

"I'm telling you, you're pushing yourself too hard. You're overdoing it even before your body can recover!"

"But I need to get strong!"

"Then you're putting the cart before the horse. If you could get strong that easily, nobody would have to work at it. Strength is something built slowly but surely after time. The strength you gain in one day is easily lost. Is that the kind of strength you want?"

Yuki clenched her fist._ I wanted to gain any strength... even the type you lose in one day._

* * *

"Is that your normal regime?" Asuka asked, still following Yuki around.

"Yeah."

"It's bad for your health if you strain yourself too much. You're still recovering, too."

"Shut up. It's none of your business."

Asuka frowned. This girl didn't seem too friendly, but at the same time she didn't protest to her following her. Mysterious.

"Wah! Stop!" A voice yelled. Both of the girls looked down to see three Jounin from the Hidden Rock Village, teaming up on a boy about their age.

"What's your problem?!" One yelled.

"Hold up..." the boy complained. Yuki immediately ditched her bag and ran towards them.

"Eh?! Yuki-chan?!"

"C'mon, fork over all your money." He said, lifting the boys' collar up to the wall.

"I told you, I don't have any..." the boy complained.

"Hey, morons!" Yuki yelled. The Jounin immediately looked behind him and saw a girl, putting on finger less gloves.

"What's your problem? You wanna go?!" The seemingly leader yelled. The boy immediately ran away at the free escape.

"Ah, he ran away." Ugly No. 1 claimed.

"Oh well." Ugly No. 2 grinned. Yuki frowned.

The three charged at her. Quicker than eye, she hit one. Another swiped at her, but she dodged it and proceeded to knee his stomach and then punched him in the face.

"Don't get too proud!" The leader called, and tackled her back. She fell down as the others started kicking her. She braced for the impacts.

"Sandaime-sama!" Asuka yelled, waving her hands as if signaling someone. "Sandaime, over here!"

"Shit, run!" The leader said. Asuka raced down the hill, gesturing over to Yuki. "Hurry up, c'mon, this way!"

As soon as the Iwa Jounin ran away, Asuka stuck out her tongue at them. "Are you okay, Yuki?" She asked, hurrying to her.

Yuki sat up. "How can you be so reckless? You're a girl, you know."

"That's my business."

"Yuki-chan!" Asuka yelled, seeing as she didn't get the point. "My heart almost stopped. Picking a fight with Jounin..."

"It's none of your business."

"I'd rather have died then you having saved someone like me." Asuka said. Yuki whipped her head around. "That day, you said that in your sleep."

"No, I—"

"That's what I heard, and wondered if maybe you were really a lonely, sweet, feminine girl. Yet, why do you try to be so tough?"

"Shut up."

"Why do you try so hard not to make friends?"

"Shut up!"

"Why are you lying to yourself!?"

"I said SHUT UP! Just leave me alone, I can't afford to...!" She yelled, cutting herself off at the end.

"I wanted to learn about the real Yuki-chan... we're both alone in this city, and we're a lot alike. Yuki-chan, lying to herself, protecting everyone. You always help people out, but never get any help yourself, and secretly cry alone. And me, smiling; acting pleasantly; while hiding my true feelings. But we're not really alike. I'm just running. You're trying hard on your own. I was awed and saddened by you. So I want to be your friend."

"You're still saying that. You've said it several times before..." Yuki whispered, but gave a little smile.

"You're sad, aren't you? That if something happens again, you won't be able to stand on your own again. So I promise, I won't go. I'll be by your side forever." Asuka said.

"Whatever..." Yuki said, and turned, starting to leave. As soon as she went near the stairs, she looked over at Asuka with a little smile.

"See you tomorrow, Asu-nyan." She said, and ran up the stairs.

"See you, Yuki-chan." She smiled back, waving with a big smile, with a small tear of happiness brimming in her eye.

* * *

_***-Yuki's name is Snow in English. Snow is "cool," thus making it a pun.**_

_****-Arigato-Thank you**_

_**Well? Better than my last, no? Worth the wait, yes, yes.**_

_**I know the ending was probably a bit cheesy, but... so what!? **_

_**I have accepted anonymous reviews, so I WANT YOU TO REVIEW AND FAVORITE, GOTCHA?!**_

_**Anyway, I will reply to any reviews, any questions and comments, just to make myself clear.**_

_**Songs I listened to were:  
Queen-Bohemian Rhapsody  
Katy Perry-The One That Got Away  
Ode To Joy (We all know who that's by. ;))  
OceanLab-On A Good Day (Above and Beyond Club Remix)  
Tiesto & Allure-Pair of Dice  
Florence and the Machine-Cosmic Love  
Florence and the Machine-Dog Days  
Maka & Waeck ft. Farisha-Breathe**__** (Vexare Remix)  
Papercut Massacre-Lose my Life  
Pussycat Dolls-I'm Still Here  
Broken Iris-Where the Butterflies Never Die  
Train-Drive By  
Marina and the Diamonds-Oh No!  
**__**Train-Drops of Jupiter**_

_**And much more!**_

_**Yeah, long list, but this took me longer than expected.**_

_**This will be my common playlist, because Autotune BS is taking over the world, and the list of good songs are decreasing by the second.**_

_**"You a stupid hoe, stupid hoe."**_

_**Sorry Nicki fans, but I don't get it.**_

**_I'M GETTING OFF TOPIC._**

**_I'll do that sometimes._**

**_But review, and I expect you to! *coughliacough*_**

**_I'll get started on Chapter 2 Soon, so hold your breath!_**

**_(This is one of my longer fanfics, PS.)_**

**_Thank you for your support. ^_^_**


	2. I'll Never Regret It

**Each Moment**

**Chapter 2: I'll Never Regret It**

* * *

The first thing Asuka wondered when she got up was why she set her alarm so early. Glancing at the clock, she rolled in bed. 4:58? Why would she get up this early? She hit the snooze button with her hand. She heaved a great sigh through her mouth. The sun wasn't even up. Weird. Graduation didn't start until 9...

Her collar.

"_Oh, GOD!_!" Asuka yelled in an un-ladylike manner, getting out of bed quickly, stumbling and slipping over her blanket.

"ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod..." Asuka yelled profanities as she got dressed. Forget her hair. She'd be late.

Rushing downstairs, she nearly slipped on the sleek wood planks. She caught her balance before she fell, then started running out the door, throwing a piece of toast in her mouth on the way out.

Mmm, really nutritious.

Asuka ran to the right as soon as she was out of her door, sticking her head in the air to finish the last of the bread.

"I'm here!" She yelled, with the continuous "rinrin" of the door chime.

Even in summer, it was sweltering inside. It almost made her blood boil. The A/C wasn't cool enough to calm the blistering incalescence of the burning furnace.

"T-Tachibana-san?!" She asked, getting no reply and seeing the furnace was open.

"Asuka!" he bellowed. He grinned, and walked over to the furnace, slamming the hood down with a satisfying THUD. "Sorry, I couldn't find time to make it last night. My bad."

"Huh? It's... fine... seriously?" Asuka asked sadly.

"No." The man grinned. He felt the pockets of his Blacksmith apron and pulled out a small square pendant with a Konoha symbol. "Voila." He dropped it in the Cat's hands. "All yours."

"Yay! Yay! Thank you, Tachibana-san!" she smiled. She grinned and attached it to her collar. A ninja of Konoha.

"Hey, want to stay? I'm making small cups of strawberry mousse." He claimed.

"Really?!" Asuka exclaimed, her eyes gleaming, because if Tachibana Kenta weren't a blacksmith, he could definitely be a chef.

* * *

She jogged through the hall and ran through the school. She ran into the classroom and sat in her usual middle row. (her, Tazuki and Akiko)

Iruka came in not much longer and started explaining how we should never give up, try your best and give everything your all.

"You will all be working in a Team of three."

At this remark, if Asuka had had water in her mouth, she would've undoubtedly done a giant spit take. Three?! That means she may be stuck with Uchiha Sasuke. Or Oyama Daiki. She shuddered at the mere thought. He called out names. She was satisfied that Uchiha Sasuke had been put on Team 7. But Daiki? Oh god. Oh god, no.

"Team Thirteen; Sarutobi Tazuki, Hyuuga Inari, Oyama Daiki."

"WHA-! HU-! SHI-! SO-! NO! WHAT?! _WHAT_?! NO! You gotta be KIDDING ME! That's totally not fair! I mean, Inari isn't that bad, but Daiki?! You've gotta be kidding me!" Tazuki protested, standing up.

"How dare you, I should kill you. Luckily, I shall not do as such with other commoners around." Daiki said, his golden kingly feel radiated as he sat with his feet on the desk.

"NO! I refuse! I can't work with him! Iruka-sensei...! Please, accommodate with me!" Tazuki cried.

"I'm sorry, Tazuki, but your Jounin sensei specifically requested for you both." Iruka gave a sheepish and worried grin.

_I hope Sandaime-sama knows what he's doing, accepting these three in a single group... I'd go insane._

"Team Sixteen: Ikeda Akazukin, Nekono Asuka, Mataki Yuki."

She felt a moment of happiness, right then. She was with people she liked. It was like the calm after a storm of worry. She was going to be fine. She would plow through this, with help. Iruka announced we'd be meeting our new sensei and wished the best of luck to all of us, then dismissing class. The class poured out of the classroom, leaving only Yuki and Asuka behind.

* * *

"Good morning, Yuki-chan!" Asuka said. Yuki pulled out her lunch, trying to ignore the cat-like girl.

"Onigiri? That's not healthy, eating it everyday you know."

"I know, but I'm in a rush in the morning."

"Here, I got it." Asuka replied, and pulled out her own lunch. It contained fruits, veggies, meat, bread, everything. She took out a small cherry tomato. "Say 'ah!'"

"N-No, it's fine." Yuki said, swaying the thought aside.

"Take it." Asuka insisted. Yuki took the chopsticks and ate it herself, without her mouth touching the chopsticks, and pulled it off, and ate.

"It's delicious." she replied.

"Se-e? I told you." She grinned. "Anyway, we should get out before the first Jounin comes in and thinks that we two are his or her new group, eheh."

Yuki gave a half-laugh* as the two left.

* * *

They were in the room before the sensei. Whoever it was was probably going to be right on time. Sure enough, she was. The three wait in the room in an awkward silence, because Akiko didn't like Yuki, who didn't mind Asuka but somewhat disliked Akiko for unknown reasons, who liked Asuka, who liked the both of them. So instead of insulting and hurting or fake-complimenting, all three of them sat, with Akiko glancing at the random musings on the wall, Asuka changing from the floor to Akiko and or Yuki, and Yuki staring outside, with half-lidded eyelids as if she knew what would happen, and didn't care, like her mind was on other things. Within ten minutes, a head popped through the door, with somewhat intertwining hair.

"Oh, so you were early?" Was the first thing this voice said. Asuka and Akiko immediately slumped.

_Even if we were early, it's not like you would've known..._ thought Asuka.

_Early? More like you're late..._ thought Akiko.

_Same time as always. _Yuki nodded.

"Um, I have a question for you." Asuka piped up, breaking the silence.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I've got to ask... are you our sensei?"

"I am." She replied, and walked out the door. The three followed.

* * *

"All right, it's necessary to state your name, likes, dislikes, dreams and goals." The brown-haired lady said. "We'll start with you." She gestured towards Akiko.

"Shouldn't you introduce yourself to others first? I mean, I'm pretty sure it's in the shinobi code conduct." Akiko said.

The sensei sighed. "All right. If you insist, my name is Hyo Ayaka of the leaf. My likes and dislikes are none of your concern, and all my dreams and goals are things that are out of fairytales, a naive little girls' dreams."

"My name is Akazukin Ikeda, but everyone calls me Akiko, Akai or Kiko-chan!" smiled Akiko.

"That explains the outfit**," said Ayaka, gesturing to Akai's red hooded vest.

"I like apple tarts and pie! I dislike it when people get me mad. My dream is to live in a quiet world where no one will tick me off. My goal is not to become Hokage, but just to be alive and a good, strong and healthy ninja!" Akazukin claimed.

"All right. And you, the one with cat ears."

"My name is Nekono Asuka! I think. I like Tachibana-san's Strawberry Mousse, and sushi... and fish!" she smiled. "I dislike certain people... but for certain reasons. My dream is to protect this village, even if it risks me my life! And my goals is to become something greater than Hokage!"

"And what exactly is greater than Hokage?" Asked Ayaka. There was no response and an awkward silence and eerie wind blew.

"Alright," said Ayaka with a small sigh, "What about you, Kuroyukihime?***"

"My name is Mataki Yuki. Thewe are several things I like, not many of which I will name. What I hate is my sister, Mataki Sayomi."

Yuki said it sincerely. There was no faint exposition in her voice that gave hinder that she was joking whatsoever. Nor did it sound like they had recently gotten in a fight. It was full malice, for reasons unknown. Her voice had no specialities, just simply saying. But she wasn't kidding at all.

"My dreams are no one's business but the bearer. My goal is not a goal, but a simple anticipation because no matter how many times I have to do it, I will. That's my goal."

Ayaka's sweet and fake smile faltered for just a second. She had anticipated those answers, but unbeknownst of the reason behind them. Just who was _Kuroyukihime_?

"Well, we've got quite the three here~!" Her fake smile making a grand reappearance. "Hmm…" She thought for a moment. "All right, don't eat breakfast tomorrow. The training is going to be a doozy!"

"Ehh? Training?! We did so much of that at the Academy already!" Complainers Asuka. "Isn't there something else we can do, like missions?"

There was a pause, when a great fire singed Asuka. The heat was hotter than Tachibana's furnace, but in the end, Asuka was magically unsinged, but sweating.

"It wouldn't be smart to argue. Let's not do that, okay~?"

* * *

"Sorry for making you wait." Yuki said, coming out from her house, long after the introductions.

"Oh, it's no problem. You're done, right?" Asuka asked.

"Yup."

"Do you want to go somewhere on the way home?"

"Yeah, sure." Said Yuki.

The two girls stopped several places on the way back, be it the dango store or anything, like two birds of a feather they travelled.

"Hey, do you have some extra time? I want to show you something." Asuka claimed.

"Yeah, I do."

"It's this way!" Asuka said, picking up the pace to a run, pointing forward. "C'mon!" she yelled.

When Asuka reached Konoha's Lookout, to anybody else, it was breathtaking.

"This is it!" Asuka claimed, spinning around to show the wide area. You could see all of Konoha.

It was as if the colors and intensity of the light was just enough to calm anyone, even the loudest of kids. Like a powerful symphony quieting down, becoming more emotional and beautiful as it dies down. It's rays seem friendly. A reminiscent of an old friend, waving good bye to you, you know they are leaving but you are filled with the confidence that you would see them again.

"Ah…" Yuki said in admiration.

"This is my favourite spot." She grinned, "It's like I feel better here, watching over the town, like I can protect it at all times. I don't always come here to cheer myself up, though. It's kind of hard to explain…" she gave a sheepish smile, and roused the back of her hair. "You get it though, right?"

"Yeah, I do." Yuki claimed, pushing her wind-blown side hair out of her face. "You really like this town, don't you?"

"Yup." She replied with a reminiscent smile, "I love it… well after all, it is the place I had the most fun in. See, I don't remember my past too well. I woke up one day and the only name I could remember was Asuka. A lady found me. Her name was Luka Nakano. She thought me all the joys to life, and gave me the family name of Nekono. It kind of stuck to me, with cat ears and all… haha. But she fell fatally ill. And like most fatally ill people, she died."

"I see… but you aren't sad?"

"No. Because she'll always be in my heart. And besides, she told me to keep living on. I don't charge so easily into battles, especially ones where I will inevitably die. Because I was ordered to live." she smiled, gazing at the sun falling behind a few buildings.

"I wish I had a family member like that. There's only one person my sister cares about…"

"It's you, right?" She asked.

"No. It isn't me, but I can't oblige to tell you who it is or why. I might even move around a bit because they need help."

There was a silence. Asuka leaned over to look at Yuki.

"Stay here forever. I don't want you to go."

Yuki smiled gently. "Yeah. I'd like that…"

There was a long silence, until Asuka smiled. "Oh yeah, I got something for you!" She reached into the bag where ninjas would keep shuriken and kunai, and brought out a single bracelet, made out of chains, with a single pink paw-print shaped attachment.

"Cute, huh? I know you already have a bracelet…" she said, referring to the strap on Yuki's wrist, with a disc on it. On the disc there were two half-spherical containers, holding an indigo sort of sand. It was alike to a very small hourglass. "But I think that the other hand's kinda jealous!"

"I got something for you too." Yuki said, and brought out a bracelet identical to Asuka's, but instead of a paw print there was a silver star.

"Ah, thank you." Asuka said as they exchanged bracelets. "Well… it's getting late, so we'd better go…" she said, and the two parted paths, both silhouettes in the red sky.

* * *

**Well? Good? I know it's a bit short, but it's meaningful. It gave a bit more insight to pasts, so… pfft, it doesn't matter, the best of chapters can be less than a sentence long and be great!**

***You know what a half-laugh is, I hope? You know, a little extra breath through the nose?**

****Akazukin is Little Red Riding Hood in Japanese. this may make sense now, but you'll see why it doesn't later on…**

*****Kuroyukihime is Ayaka's nickname for Yuki. Kuro means black, referring to Yuki's black and only partially white outfit, Yuki is Snow, and Hime is Princess.**

**Now to answer your reviews.**

**Mizuki446-Damn spellcheck tried turning the name into something else…**

**YES! Ahaaaa! I am the great evolution of Ninjacatnyan! Cower in fear!**

**Ahem… but thank you.**

**The Element of Kindness-A MLP lover. Yes. I'm disappointed it's ended, however…**

**I'm sorry I couldn't accept your OC. It was just kinda… well, I already gave you my reasons, but I will try to a character somewhat similar in exchange. I hope you understand.**

**Anyway, thanks a million for reviewing. :3**

**bottle of beast-Yes. I agree completely, about the Nicki Minaj thing.**

**Actually, they don't hat Sasuke, necessarily. Asuka, as revealed in this chapter, is just kind of ticked at him for being all depressed. She does aknowledge his strength, though.**

**Why, thank you. Actually, the reason why Asuka stuck around was because the two were similar, but not really similar at all. Asuka walked around, acting pleasantly while really disappointed inside, but Yuki was trying hard on her own. Asuka was awed and saddened by that. Yuki didn't really want any friends due to certain specifications.**

**And the Japanese words? I'd agree with you if I used it excessively, but I don't. It makes sense because Naruto was originally Japanese, and unlike you I watch it in Japanese and read the manga with English translations. It's rude not to use honorifics, and it sounded more fitting than "Mr. Tachibana" or "Miss Mataki." It's like you're saying why give Japanese names in a English Story?**

**Sorry. I'm a bit touchy like that. But thanks for REALLY reviewing, not just "yay good job keep going k"**

**And that concludes chapter 2. Short but good. I'll work on chapter three later. As Ayaka said, it's going to be a doozy.**

**Music Illusion has logged off.**


	3. Because She's My Friend

**Each Moment**

**Chapter Three: Because She's My Friend**

* * *

Asuka had always woken very abruptly. In fact; she didn't even believe she had any dreams. Today, she just found herself awake at five, walking through Konoha absentmindedly, almost subconsciously. Her headache worsened day by day, until it finally buzzed in her head like an alarm. For some reason, although she needed all the sleep she could've gotten, she wasn't able to. In potent numbness she woke up twice as fast as normal.

Asuka walked through Konoha, sighing. It's clear and cloudless-5:45 AM now. Like most mornings, she tries to recall things. The only name she knew that was related to herself was _Asuka. _Her last name was Nekono-no, more like her given name. What was her family name?

When she tried to recollect what her family name was, she immediately befell a splitting headache. So dizzy. She wavered for a moment, and almost passed out. She might've even winded up back in bed if she let go and fainted. For some time, she'd been embracing a rush of useless information.

The normal stuff you saw in the village, like the hustle and bustle of storekeepers starting to open up their shops. It hasn't changed. It hasn't changed.

When she pushed the thought, her field of vision fizzled. Today, there seemed to be a crowd of people starting to get up and the early risers of villagers milling in front of stores, and a few more being directed that way. As to what's going on, it's the usual.

Her last name. What...

_Two girls._

She was seized by a headache. Dizziness took over her. She felt like she was forcibly being pushed out of her consciousness. She had to go. Where? Who knows. She had to... _wake up..._

_But who... was she... waking up... for...?_

It was becoming somewhat clearer now. She shouldn't exist. Glasses. The reality containing her existence becoming unraveled.

_Don't turn away now._

What is the "truth" behind her existence?

_Don't turn away now._

What was the world she "knew"?

_DON'T TURN AWAY NOW._

There's a reason why she was here.

"Asuka-chan." The voice wrang out to her like a cowbell. A girl came by her, parting paths with a separate guy, who went another way. Who were they?

Shaking herself from the weird boundary that kept her from reality, she smiled. What had come over her? That was Mataki Yuki. The other dude was Uchiha Sasuke, who had parted ways. They must have been practicing.

Yuki practicing? Without her? She felt insulted, reverting to the natural Asuka. Well, it was true that Sasuke had much more skill than her, she supposed... she smiled at Yuki.

"Hey!" She said, and the two began to head towards the Training Grounds assigned, when meeting a red-haired girl on the way.

"Asu-nyan! Yo, can I talk to you?" Akazukin asked. "We'd better hurry. It's almost seven, and we have a meeting, so we definitely can't be late."

"Meeting... Oh! The Survival Training? Understood!"

"You remember yesterday. Sensei sounded serious." she warned.

"Ah..." Asuka agreed, then forgot. "Oh, Yuki! This is Akai-chan. You remember her from yesterday, right? She's a member of our new group. She'll be working with us from now on."

"Nice to meet you, Mataki-chan." Akai smiled. "Oh, can I also call you 'Yuki'?"

Yuki seemed to... was that a glare? No, it was a simple somewhat emotionless look. "Yes."

"Okay, okay! You can call me Akai." she smiled. "Anyway, I'll meet you there." She ran off.

* * *

"Asuka. Yuki. You're exactly 3.257513 seconds late." Ayaka-sensei said, and she seemed quite serious.

"Sorry." Yuki said, covering up Asuka's outburst that would've happened in a few moments, following the lines of, _but yesterday..._

"All right. Aside from that, your end time is noon." Ayaka said, sitting back.

"'_End time?_' what do you mean? For what?" Asuka was definitely confused, but that was sort of natural.

"End time for survival training. In my hand I have two small bells, and you have to steal these from me before noon. Anyone who fails is tied to the post before lunch, and I'll eat lunch in front of you."

_So that's why she didn't want us to eat breakfast... ughh... _Asuka sighed, her stomach grumbling.

"All you need is one bell, but since there aren't enough one of you'll be guaranteed to head for the stump, and whoever it is will be first to fail, which means one of you three are going back to school, for another year of disgrace!" She said this all with a cheery smile. "You may use shuriken or kunai. You're allowed to kill me."

"Ehh? Sen-sei, that's really dangerous!" Akazukin said with a small pout on her face.

"The shinobi world is dangerous. Get over it."

"Okay, recap of the summary, we steal it like this?" Yuki said, holding one of the bells.

"Okay. New objective." Ayaka said, appearing behind Yuki suddenly and stealing the bells back. "Retrieve the stolen bells-but nice try, Kuroyukihime. I didn't even say 'go'."

"So now... ready, set... GO!"

* * *

Asuka and Yuki jumped somewhere into the bushes while for some random reason, Akai stood in the center, with her sweet smile.

"Ahh? Aren't you going to go off and hide?" asked the sensei, fronting the red-haired girl.

"Umm..." Akazukin's smile remained. "Well, there's no reason to hide, really..."

"How so?" The sensei tilted her head.

"Probably because…" Akai's sweet smile suddenly looked a lot more sadistic. "You're about to enter the almighty Akai-sama's battle." Her already red eyes gleamed.

She let out her arm and a mercury-like metal surrounded it, creating some sort of cannon, and then hardened. "Koton! Saigo no Shotto!*" it shot out a giant bullet-like object at the Teacher.

"Ah. Steel and Fire." Said the sensei, dodging it, and then hiding behind her blade.

"How'd you know-?!" Akai asked, as the bullet exploded. Ayaka remained unscathed.

Ayaka hit Akazukin with her sword, sending Akai flying back into a tree.

"Akai-chan!" Asuka yelled, standing up and out of hiding.

"And out comes the other." Ayaka grinned.

Asuka ran over. Akai looked unconscious, but it was probably due to her hitting a tree, or something. Either way, she wasn't dead. Asuka was about to sigh in relief when she felt a presence behind her.

"Shinobi don't naturally just let their guard down, you know."

There was a battle. Ayaka whipped her sword around like it was no bigger than a stick used as kids would in "sword-to-sword" combat. Asuka did her best to defend against her attacks, when Ayaka put her hand in a jutsu formula.

"Oh god." Asuka said, as twenty more Ayaka's surrounded her.

Ayaka-the real Ayaka, held out her hand to Asuka, when suddenly the ground rumbled quite distinctly.

"Coming. Coming. It's coming. It's here. Here." The Ayaka's repeated, looking at the trees when they came crashing down.

Five clones, gone.

Six. Seven. Eight. Crushed by falling trees. And one headed straight towards Ayaka.

"Coming. Coming. It's Here. Here." They leftovers said, staring straight at a black figure perched on one of the trees.

Ayaka chopped a tree in half with her sword, then swung it to the side. Her cheerful look no longer there, she looked serious and looked up.

Mataki Yuki.

"Raiton: Kuro no waiya**" she said, and several precision black lighting bolts hit, each coming from one of Yuki's fingers. She moved them of order to kill all the Ayaka's in a poof of smoke. All except for one who managed to avoid all the attacks. The caster of the Shadow Clones.

"Impressive, Kuroyukihime. But... as you can see, I'm still alive." She smiled. Yuki seemed unfazed by this. "But genin aren't supposed to have that much chakra yet. You're very interesting."

Yuki remained composed and threw a shuriken at Ayaka. It hit her dead in the forehead.

"Yuki!" Asuka said, hurrying to her feet, the sensei lying motionless on the ground.

Then with a puff of smoke, it turned into a log.

"Su-substitution jutsu..." Asuka said, looking down. Jeez... no wonder Yuki didn't want to train with her, not being able to find out what was real and what wasn't. But obviously the teacher was still going easy. With caliber like theirs? No, that wasn't the problem. It's just that the teacher was too good. Even when she wasn't trying, she avoided an attack like that...

"Asu... nyan?" A voice croaked behind her. She turned to see Akazukin getting up.

"Akai-chan!" Asuka cheered, hugging her.

"Get your stupid paws off me, cat. I've got what we're supposed to do." Akai said. "Yuki's still battling her, right?"

"Yes, probably..." Asuka said.

"Asuka, build chakra in those cat ears of yours. It'll enhance your field of hearing."

Asuka did as such. Her eyes widened somewhat. Little Red was right. She could hear the rustling of the leaves. She could even hear the clashes of battle from far away.

"Can you tell if there's a shadow clone nearby?" Akazukin asked.

"Yeah, I can, but there isn't. Trust me." Asuka said.

"Hah. Alright. This is the plan." Akai said, and whispered in Asuka's ear.

* * *

"Eh? Kuroyukihime, you know you have to at least _try_ to get one of the bells before lunch." Ayaka said. "Well? I'm waiting. Impress me."

Asuka was about to go with the plan until she saw a glitter in the grass.

"Kiko-chan! Look!" She yelled. She pointed at the bells and ran after them. Please. Who needed a strategy plan? The bells were right there!

"Idiot, don't!" Akai yelled, but Asuka was already leaning over to the bells.

But then someone tackled her.

And then there was a whoosh behind her.

So it was a trap.

And the person in the trap was not Akiko. Nor was it the sensei, because she had set it up.

It was Mataki Yuki. She easily broke free, but Asuka wasn't allowed to focus on that.

"Asu-nyan! To make up for that, your punishment is to get a bell with me no matter what, falling for a trap as easy as that!"

"Understood!" Asuka cheered. The two dashed towards the sensei. Akazukin held out her hand, and the metallic cannon surrounded it once again.

"My specialty is ready! Asuka, go!" Akai called.

"Rodger that!" Asuka called. She charged the sensei. Just as she was about to slash at her, she jumped over the large saw and front flipped behind her and threw a kunai. As expected, the Jounin dodged it.

"Yuki!" Asuka yelled, remembering the missing link in their formation.

"It's okay!" Akai yelled. She-instead of aiming the cannon at the sensei, threw it on the ground. "Koton! Yure maguma***!"

The Earth shook, and broke, throwing the sensei off balance. Then, quicker than lightning, Yuki came from nowhere and used her shuriken to spin about and around to Ayaka Hyo's bells. She lunged towards it, holding her sword at defense because undoubtedly, Hyo Ayaka would try to attack. Sure enough, as she was about to grip the bells, Ayaka's sword met hers.

But Ayaka's strength was much stronger. Yuki was thrown backwards before she could get the bell completely, and screamed silently after hitting a tree. She got back up.

"Crap, so close..." Akai scowled. "And I'm out of chakra too... and food..."

"Don't mention that word." Asuka said, her mouth watering at the thought.

"Hmm... Aka/arashi/hime? No, no... I'll stick with their own names." Ayaka nodded.

_rinrinrinrinrinrinrinrin! _The sound buzzed around in the girls' heads in horror. Time was up.

"Ah... too bad." The sensei gave her cute grin. "The person in the worst position at this point was Yuki, for getting caught in such a simple trap... however, the person who did the least amount of attacking would be..." She eyed Asuka with a single eye. "Well, I suppose..."

"No, I shall." Insisted the Mataki.

"Hmm... I really didn't expect Kuroyukihime to get stuck in the trap though..." She said. Asuka wanted to protest, then remembered the sensei's warning yesterday.

"I will take the punishment. I understand it completely, and on other hands I don't eat much breakfast overall any mornings anyway. If you would allow me to..." Yuki claimed.

"Alright. Since you're so persistent..." Said Ayaka, sighing.

* * *

"You'll have to get tied to the pole, and the rest can eat all their lunch. Also; Kuroyukihime fails. Anyone who feeds her will fail as well. Fair enough?"

There was a silence. "But..." Asuka's voice wavered.

"Ah, I said no arguing. Remember?" She reminded. "Asuka, you were so intent on seeing if Akiko was okay while pressuring the own safety of yourself, and not even considering the dangers both you and your team would've gone through. Akazukin would've wanted you to pass."

"Akazukin. You left Mataki Yuki in danger while devising a strategy. I could have killed her, and she wouldn't have been part of your strategy anymore, but you would've worked your way around it, wouldn't you?" Both Akazukin and Asuka sighed in depression. That was… true.

"Wait!" Asuka exclaimed, "but the two things you've just said completely confict and contradict against each other! One is saving a friend and one is leaving a friend!"

"Huh? What, you think on the shinobi battlefield that your choices are one or the other? Hm. Looks like you've got a lot to go. You know, for everything you all are; you're all just little girls."

"Kuroyukihime. You decided to save Asuka even though you knew Akiko was enevitably going to lose. You call that a shinobi?" Ayaka shook her head. "All right. You can try again after lunch. But whatever you do, don't give it to Kuroyukihime. That's her punishment for falling into such an amateur trap." She claimed. With that, she turned around. "I'll just be a bit, okay?" She claimed, walking away.

There was a pause as the two girls ate their lunch. Yuki stood tied to the pole, but she seemed not to care. Almost as if… she had been in the exact same position anymore.

Despite what Ayaka-sensei said, Yuki had to be the least bit hungry. Asuka found the urge to give her some. It was delicious, and she kind of felt bad that Yuki had never gotten to taste it. But—no. That wasn't right. It was good. Yuki should… Yuki should…!

"Please have some." Asuka said, holding a springroll.

Yuki grinned somewhat. "Want to see something cool?" She asked tauntingly. Asuka nodded. "put that plate on the ground and roll up one of the edges. Then put a springroll on it." She guaranteed. Asuka did as told. As so, Yuki slammed her foot down on the platter, causing it to fly behind her. But the springroll was still okay. As it flew up in the air, it landed securely in her mouth.

"Idiot, did you hear Ayaka or are you deaf, huh? She said not to feed her. Why—" Akai started but was easily cut off. What did she have against Yuki? The sensei said she'd be back in a bit, which meant she was gone. What was with all the hateful vehemence directed towards her? Yuki hadn't done anything wrong.

"Because," she snapped a bit, "She's my friend."

The air suddenly got ominously quiet. A brown/white haired sensei came out of the shadows. "My, my. You girls really just don't know how to listen."

"No!" Asuka protested. "That's not right. If you're going to fail Yuki, fail me too! She's my friend, and I'll stay by her. But I don't want to drag any others with me either, so since I've chosen this, please pass Akai-chan!"

"Hm. Guess what?" Ayaka said. "Don't fret; you all passed~!" She said cheerfully.

"Ah… seriously?" Asuka said, somewhat surprised.

"You didn't leave your friend. You pass. That was the whole point of the exam. I don't know why, but I think I'm really starting to like you girls… congrats! You're Genin."

"Eh? We… we passed…? We… passed…! We passed! We passed! WE PASSED!" Asuka yelled because saying it once wasn't enough. She cheered and Yuki broke herself free from the ropes like it was nothing.

"You girls are quite impressive, though. Akiko can shoot chakra. Yuki can even stream her chakra through lightning." Said Ayaka. "Tomorrow we'll start new missions. Missions as Team Sixteen." She smiled.

* * *

It was nearly sunset when Asuka thought about it.

She wasn't strong now. She had a ways to go. But how... what could she do? What did she need?

A weapon.

Yeah; Shuriken and Kunai were okay. But what—could she use?

The headache that had been haunting her ever since she first woke up throbbed in her head. Something popped into her head. A circle... inside it was her face.

A mirror.

That was it. Her first gift from Luka, whom found her said that she found the mirror along with her. Asuka ran to her room. She grabbed the mirror. Observing it for a while, she stared at it with an intense glare as if saying, _do something._

What had come over her? Like a mirror could attack.

_Gravity!_

She shook her head. These headaches were coming a lot more often now. She lay down, but it still throbbed. Knowing that wouldn't help, she stuck out her hand to reach the mirror, when it started floating.

Just like that, as if it were no heavier than a feather. It was as if an invisible wind started under it, except it wasn't as rickety as it should've been. It was floating. It turned to her. She sat up, not even acknowledging that her headache had disappeared so suddenly.

"What..." she asked. It started orbiting around her. She had a nostalgic feeling, even though this had never happened before. She thrust out her hand and it hit the wall and ripped a hole right through it. A single drop of sweat appeared on her forehead until feeling awfully depressed about the bill that would cost her. She grabbed a wad of duct tape and slathered it on. The mirror came back to her immediately. She paused. She let go of her chakra, and the mirror that had been orbiting her fell onto the floor.

"This will come in handy," she remarked.

* * *

She walked through town near sunset, having her mirror orbit her. It was a cute little companion.

Out of the blue, a feeling that something was moving behind her overcame her. As a ninja, you're not supposed to look behind you because it might be a distraction, and that you should follow other instincts. It's probably just a rat or something. For some reason, she finds her eyes drawn behind her when...

"What do you think you're doing?" Without warning, a man appears from out of the shadows. Dressed in black with a dour expression, the person in question is very intimidating... but that sense of intimidation was immediately replaced with extreme discomfort and unease. A sudden, overwhelming sense of danger gave her goose bumps all over her body. His cold, blank stare sent chills down her spine as though we were marking her for death. For some reason, it felt as if he were deciding to break her neck or skin her alive.

He began to mutter under his breath while at the same time he reached out with his right hand. The chills running down her spine gained intensity as waves of nausea and vertigo. She felt like a rabbit while watching a wolf draw near.

Maybe this wasn't raw terror. Was he holding something that was making her feel this way...?

"You're not even trying to fight. My instincts aren't sharp as they should be. I need to rest." The note of disgust in his voice is obvious as he slowly lowered his hand. The paralysis that seemed to take hold over her suddenly fades away. The man continued to look down on her with those dead eyes of his.

"It's going to get dark. If you have nothing else to do, I advise you to go home now." He turns around. "...Is there anything else?" When she shook her head, he gave a stifled laugh. "My name is Nakamura Kage. You'd do well to remember it."

The man who introduces himself as Nakamura Kage turns back and heads out of the alleyway. With that, everything begins to progress as normal as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, but Asuka was all too sore and slicked with sweat; an all too real reminder of what had just happened.

* * *

"Are you going to the garden?" Was the first time she had ever really spoken to Yamanaka Ino, who was heading in the opposite direction. The garden was another calm place for Asuka. "Keep your guard up, it's almost too quiet in there." She claimed. "Oh, also, cool mirror! How'd you get it to do that?"

"Er, I'm not sure?" Asuka said truthfully.

"C'mon, c'mon! Tell me!" Ino complained. She kept like this for a while before considering something. "Wait, it might be a kekkai genkai. I need to figure out how to use it... urgh." With that, she left.

She turned the corner to enter the garden, a single man standing above many fainted people. As she walked towards them... they disappeared in black dust. Her eyes widened. This must be... some sort of... new cloning jutsu... yeah.

The man stands like a black stain, tainting the joyfully multicoloured flowerbeds around him. It's the man who had introduced himself to her earlier, Nakamura Kage. But the man standing in front of her isn't acting like a villager by any stretch of the imagination.

The sick malignancy of overbearing expression fills the air. And then scattered around him are...

dead bodies... of villagers?!

"Why did you come here? I'm certain that I sealed the entrance... I suppose I'll test you out." His thin lips had hardly moved, but in the next instant-

Asuka bowled over, as if struck by an invisible force. Chaotic thoughts buried her brain like endless grains of sand. What happened? Could she move her limbs? Seriously, what was that?

Nakamura hasn't moved. No one else is nearby. Who? Why? How-? Her thoughts whirled. Her heart raced.

"I see what you are now... it isn't you, I suppose." His voice was a quiet hiss, but she could hear everything he said. The man with cold, instrutable eyes raises his palm towards her...

* * *

When she came to, she found herself collapsed in the garden, at what looked like midnight.

The garden was silent. There wasn't even a trace of Nakamura or the corpses that had been there.

Asuka was uninjured, but her body ached from laying on the hard ground. The cold sweat that had covered her was gone, too... only the piercing pain in her head remained. Maybe it was just a bad dream. She gulped air and attempted to stand. The ground seemed to move under her feet.

_I'm delusional._ She thought. _Of course the ground isn't moving._

Should she tell Yuki? No, she'd just get worried. She should go home. She blinked twice and paused, then walked home, mirror jumping up from the ground and orbiting her like the moon once again.

* * *

***Koton, Saigo no Shotto: Koton is Steel Release. (Kekkai Genkai.) Saigo no Shotto is Final Shot.**

****Raiton, Kuro no Waiya: Raiton is Lightning Release. Kuro no Waiya is Black Wire. Simple.**

*****Koton, Yure Maguma: Again, Koton: Steel. Yure Maguma is Shaking Magma, or Earth Shaking generally.**

**Oh yeah. I added storyline to this, because I don't prefer fanfics that are just a repeat completely of the main series.**

**Plus I got a burst of inspiration and I reallllllly wanted to use it. It may appear in more than one of my fanfics, but whatever. It's not like everyone reads every single one of my books/fanfics I create.**

**Yeah.**

**Um, now to answer these reviews of yours!**

**bottle of beast: Yes, yes it does. Ahem... yeah, if you read CherryPanda116's review you'll learn there's significance in those cat ears of her. BTW, I'm really good at insight. If you don't believe me, read the story again. About Yuki/Asuka? Yeah, it'll travel throughout the story, but not always. And no, those cat ears do NOT date back to when she was a baby.**

**$#3 &3^3R W $...**

**Sorry, I like fooling around with keys. **

**Also. I was originally planning for the first two chapters to focus on the Y/A, but then 3-whatever to change a bit.**

**Yeah. If you figure out the point in my reply, please do not put it in the reply box, and instead PM me or something.**

**CherryPanda116: You better not just be reading for me. You better be reading because you like it... aha! Anyway, yeah! This one is totally better than my last one. By a long shot. I used to be an inexperienced writer like a bunch of others, but I'm like, totally awesome now. Maybe not as good as another writer here... gbakbgfakl**bottleofbeast**hashgsl... sorry. Internet sneezes. And as long as I'm into Naruto and have good music and inspiration, I'll repost day by day! (Okay, maybe not. Please don't expect that.) But yes! I shall.**

**Yes, Asuka's ears have significance to the story.**

**And stop with the shippings! You ship like EVERY gay/les pairing. I mean, some is okay. Heck, I don't care if you like most. But every. Single. Pairing. Are you serious?! **

**And the depressing storylines too. I'd like to have a good ending once in a while, you know.**

**Well, thanks for reading and I hope you'll come in and view next chapter as well.**

**Thaaaanks! Buh-bye.**

**MI is offline~!**


	4. You Mustn't Push Yourself

**Each Moment**

**Chapter Three: You Mustn't Push Yourself**

* * *

Somehow, Asuka managed to live.

More accurately, she somehow managed to stay alive.

That guy she had met had a monstrous chakra. She got up while still thinking about the night before. Just what and who was that? Who was the guy who introduced himself as Nakamura Kage? She got up and shoved the mirror under her arm. She should save her chakra for the mission. She glanced at the clock. She had a whole lot of time. Probably because of the insomnia she had gotten last night. Shrugging it off, she walked over to Yuki's house and knocked. The sweet aroma of strawberries wavered through the window.

"Ah, Asuka. Come in, Yuki's cooking right now."

The person was not Yuki. She looked awfully like Yuki, but there were plaintive differences. The first one Asuka found was her eyes. The girl was much taller than Yuki, and had her hair differently at a different length and style, but that didn't stand out. What did was her eyes, and not how it was purple. It was the look in it. The girl had a smile, but Asuka could tell it was fake. It showed eyes of…? That was strange… she couldn't read who or what this girl was.

"Asuka." The girl asked. "You can come in."

"Ah—thanks…" she said, shaking herself in reality.

"What's she cooking?" Asuka eagerly asked.

"Strawberry Risotto. She's quite good." She said this absentmindedly.

"I-I see. Who are you, now?" Asuka asked, bewildered by the girl.

"Me? I'm Yuki's sister, Sayomi Mataki."

* * *

The girl who had purple eyes and the girl who had blue eyes. She couldn't tell how their names and appearances were so similar. But the girl who had introduced herself as Sayomi was not friendly. Like she… had… given… up? An image burned through her mind for a second. A silhouette standing and clutching her hands. Then she snapped back to reality. What was that? Shaking it out of her memory, she gave a smile. "It smells really nice!"

"It does." Sayomi agreed.

"Yomi, it's ready." She said, and walked into the room. "Ah, Asuka. I made enough, then."

What? It was like Yuki knew that she was coming, even though this is the first time she'd ever came to even knock on her door.

"It's still pretty early in the morning. I didn't expect you to come, but I made extra for tomorrow."

"Oh... I see." The three girls sat down and ate.

"Ah! It's really, really good!" Asuka said, happily.

"Yeah, it is." Sayomi said. "Hey Asuka, do you believe in miracles?"

On those few words, Asuka felt a tinge of malice. But it wasn't hers. She looked to see Yuki glaring at Sayomi.

"So, Yuki-chan! I can't wait for our mission today! I mean... Tazuki-chan said that our sensei doesn't give stupid missions like catching cats. What do you think?"

"I don't tell anyone who leaves behind leftovers." She insisted.

"Huh? Oh, I'm just not hungry, I guess... I'll eat it, still." Asuka shrugged, and ate up the last bits.

"You didn't answer me." Sayomi said.

"Er..." Asuka hesitated. "I do."

"Ah, I see." Sayomi nodded. "Well, now that it's finished, Yuki's probably going to go train with Sasuke or Shikamaru..." she claimed.

"Huh? Shikamaru? Why him? He's lazier than anyone I know!" Protested Asuka. "Sasuke, although I don't like him too much, I do acknowledge his strength... but again... why Shikamaru?!"

"... He's not that bad." She insisted.

"alright... Okay...?" Asuka shrugged. "Um, I'm going to go out to train. Want to come?" She asked, getting up.

"Like I said, I'm training with someone else today. I'm sorry. Please go without me. I might catch up later."

"If you would!" Asuka grinned, and left.

"Ah, yes. It should also be my time to go, I believe..." Sayomi got up. "Thank you for the food."

Before leaving, she glanced back. "It's odd. What's wrong? You seem more malevolent towards me than usual. Could it be... Nekono Asuka?"

There was no reply.

"Alright! I'm off. See you, then. But I don't think I'm going to give up. Someone like her radiates so much chakra. It's a shame you won't oblige. Why are you so fixated on her, anyways?" Sayomi said, glancing behind her.

There was no reply.

"See you." She said, shutting the door.

* * *

With the support of Luca and Yuki, Asuka had come to realize that she could only go forward. Even if her only reason for doing so was that she feared death.

Training the training field, she proceeded to attack the good old pole. But something was off today. There was a feeling of malice. And it was strong.

This time, she didn't even need to look to have known who her opponent was. She pivoted around and let her mirror out of her arm. It swept the floor before heading up in a flawless nosedive, taking orbit like Neptune to the Sun. The moment she had started training, she was assaulted by the murderous aura she associated with the man.

The man was Kage Nakamura.

His cold, callous eyes radiated a predatory gaze. Nothing at the Academy prepared her for this. Then again, none of the others tried to intimidate her quite like this.

Suddenly, her skin prickled like thousands of invisible needles struck the nape of her neck and chest.

"...You're not flinching. You've improved. That's what makes shinobi so special. They can make extreme progress in a short period of time." As the man walked towards her, the air grew more oppressive with each step that Asuka could hardly breathe. "But that ends now." He said as he passed, close enough to touch her shoulder. "The world will end. There will be no deviation from this course."

Unable to look, unable to breathe, Asuka slowly waited for his malevolent presence to fade away.

"What a jerk. He probably doesn't realize how uncool he is."

Yuki's sudden appearance and annoyance brought Asuka back to reality. Shikamaru wasn't there, huh? Oh well. Today was a big day for a lot of people. First missions.

"I bet that he doesn't realize that he's a big, walking cliche! Don't worry about him, Asuka. You're way stronger and cooler than he is." Yuki said, all the malice held earlier was seemingly... non-existent now.

Whilst walking away from the training field, to who-knows-where, they simply chatted.

"So, that Gloomy Gus is a possible next opponent. His and his partner's presences are so tenuous that they're probably pushovers... but even if that's the case, we still need to be cautious. They're pre-Akat-I mean, they're sorta like rogue ninjas... but... the feeling of death that seems to ooze out of the dismal man is almost overwhelming. That sort of conniving, underhanded person is the total opposite of Asu-nyan." Yuki claimed.

"Yeah... thanks..." Asuka said, not facing her somewhat more cheerful teammate. Too many thoughts were in her mind.

"Yuki?" A voice wrang out with an echo of, "Sasuke-kunwannagotraintogether?Sasuke-kunIthinkit wouldbeaterrificideaifwecouldtraintogether!Sasuke- kunwecangetstrongertogetherbybeingopponents..."

"Uchiha-kun?" Yuki asked, her cheer-ish mode turning to the usual.

"Want to train?" Sasuke coolly begged, eye-gesturing to Haruno Sakura his stalker/lover/teammate.

Yuki sighed. "Yes. I'm free. Sorry, Asuka. You'll have to train with someone else today..."

"No, it's fine. I was planning on that anyway." Asuka lied, shrugging.

Yuki stared at her for a few seconds, as if telling her, _Don't try it, I know you're lying already._ And then walked away.

"And then there was one..." Asuka joked to herself.

* * *

She thought for a bit. She wanted to recollect those memories.

Question One: What is your name.

Asuka Nekono.

_NIxxUC Asuka_

What was that?

Who was that?

What was the name?

NIUC?

That wasn't a name, idiot.

Asuka.

NIUC Asuka.

What?

Her head throbbed suddenly. She grasped her stomach, with the other hand covering the mouth. But she wouldn't let it go. Or more accurately, she couldn't. She finally had a lead. No matter how much it hurt, no matter how much it would try to pain her, she needed that information.

Who was she?

The pain reached breaking point. She fell onto her knees. Fatigue would overtake her soon. But she had to.

"Asuka-chan?" A voice wrang out behind her. She was about to turn and snap at the person to disturb her, but then saw who it was.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked. She gave him a I'm-pretending-to-be-okay-so-believe-me-okay smile.

"Psh, yeah... I just have a little headache." She grinned. He bought it.

"Ah, I see. Well, it better clear up before the mission starts!" He ordered. They both laughed.

"Ah, okay... well, want to train? We've got like, an hour before our joint mission begins."

"Ah... sure...!" Asuka said. "But if you can't win, no mercy goes toward you." She grinned, before noticing something. "Wait... Joint mission?! For our first? Aren't we supposed to have stupid missions like catching cats or something! Genin are supposed to be like Konoha's excuses for cheap labour!"

Naruto laughed, knowing it was true. "Well, let's get started then! I'm not going to lose to you!"

"Is that an insult?" She grinned.

"And a challenge." he smiled back.

* * *

After training, all too soon it was time for their mission. Everyone was there, except for the too-late sensei, Hatake Kakashi.

"Oi, Asuka... your sensei seems awfully quiet." Naruto whispered to Asuka.

"You think I know the explanation? I've known her for one day." Asuka glared back.

"I know, it's just..." he stopped there.

"Yo." Kakashi said, appearing through the archway out of the gate of Konohagakure.

"Kakashi-sempai.*" Ayaka said, her cute atmosphere nonexistent. Asuka could clearly see that the sensei harbored some malice towards the Copycat ninja. But why... was that?

"... No need to call me -sempai. I'm not stronger than you." Kakashi said.

"...sempai is the kindest thing I can call you, but if you wouldn't prefer that, what should I call you?"

"Kakashi is fine."

With a light stare at him with an almost invisible sneer, she turned. "Our mission is to deliver a special borrowed scroll to _Kumogakure*_. It'll take use two or three days to go there and back. Understood?"

"Wait, a stupid scroll mission again?! What do you take us for! Team Kakash-aaahh! Hot!"

Naruto began rolling on the ground trying to extinguish the fire on his right shoulder.

"N-Nar-N-Sensei!" Asuka complained, and dumped the contents of her water bottle on Naruto. That was real fire, not the fake illusion fire Ayaka used on Asuka.

_She's in a bad mood._ Asuka almost instinctively assumed, before wondering how she was so certain.

"Asuka, fill up your water bottle and hurry up. I want to get this mission over with as soon as possible." Ayaka insisted.

"_Hai_, sensei." Asuka said, before wearily running to fill up her bottle.

* * *

"It'll take us a whole lot longer to reach _Kumogakure*_. We'll camp out here for the night." Kakashi and Ayaka said in unison. They had been thinking of the same thing. Ayaka wasn't cheerful. She wasn't even smiling. But why?

"We'll do a bit of training and then go to set camp up. We'll do it tournament style. Kakashi will set up the teams of battle." Ayaka announced.

"Hey, Naruto," Sakura tempted. Naruto leaned in. "Aren't you exited that you might be with Asuka-chan?"

"Er... I could, I guess... but..." He seemed uninterested.

"Mmm..." Sakura frowned, while looking at Sasuke who was idly lying around. She turned to Kakashi-sensei.

"Kakashi-sensei! _Onegai**_, pair me up with Sasuke-kun!" She insisted while whispering. The sensei remained calm, until all the other students came up to him with requests.

"Er... how about we just get ready for the night?" Kakashi suggested. They looked a bit disappointed, but went on with the schedule.

"Alright. Sasuke, Asuka, Yuki, you'll be on one end. You're going to get food. You'll meet back here in 30 minutes, and then we'll take it for the night." Kakashi announced. "The other three-Naruto, Sakura, Akazukin-you'll be getting water for us at a nearby lake. Start... now."

With those words, the six set off.

"So, Hamano," Kakashi turned to her once the six left, "You still hate me."

* * *

"We've got to get some food. Not a whole lot, alright?" Sasuke announced.

"You're making it sound like you're the leader of the group, Uchiha-kun." Yuki glanced at him with a smirk.

"...! Heeey! No fair! Don't exclude meee!" Asuka whined. "I'm still here!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that at all..." Yuki said, looking down.

"Huh? No, no... I was joking! Ehe..." Asuka grinned.

"Anyway, Asu-nyan. About that guy earlier." She announced.

"Why bring him up now?"

"That's not important. But about that guy; looking into his eyes was like peering into those of a corpse... Whatever. If anything happens, I'll just have to act accordingly. Now, let's get going!" Yuki grinned.

The three proceeded to run through the forest.

* * *

"Stop." Sasuke announced. The three stopped.

"What is it, Sasuke?" Asuka asked.

"Grrgh... I think I felt an enemy nearby, but maybe it was my imagination. This is really strange... Let's keep going, but be careful." Yuki warned.

The three ran through the forest looking for food. There weren't many animals. That truly was strange. "Hmph, let the hunt begin." Yuki smirked.

As they ran, a figure appeared. Asuka gasped and stopped. She was at the front, and held up her arm to halt the other two.

The familiar black coat strode into Asuka's field of vision. There was no mistaking that form, that gaze. It was none other than Kage Nakamura. But even though they were out in the open, he seemed alone. What could this...?

"Ergh, bingo! I knew I felt that slimeball here." Yuki grinned. She took a step forward and held her sword up. "Huh? Your partner isn't here? You've got a lot of guts to walk around defenseless."

"It's called confidence, sweetheart." A voice said somewhere. Yuki turned, and then in the swiftest piece of light there was a slash and then a crash.

What just happened?! In the space of a second, the air grew thick and then Asuka heard a thud, as if something big had hit the floor. There was nothing there, and nothing happened. However, there's no mistaking that Yuki was collapsed on the floor.

"What... why...?" Yuki muttered.

"It's over. Let's go." Kage said and turned.

"...?" The figure seemed surprised as he let out a surprised grunt.

"Not satisfied? Do you want to slice off their heads, too?" Kage asked.

"No, there's no need. I've hit their heart, which is enough, but... yeah, that's enough. They're as good as dead."

"I see. Let's go, then." Kage said.

Perhaps it was just Asuka's imagination, but she thought Kage barely glanced at her before walking off. Kage turned away from her, melting back into the dimly lit forest like some sort of apparition. That other voice must've belonged to the partner of Kage. Or so Yuki said. He said something pretty ominous.

_"They're as good as dead."_

Yuki... wasn't moving. Asuka couldn't think of anything but that terrible sight. Asuka's strong, capable friend was lying helpless on the floor. They just came out of the wrong side of a surprise attack. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. This couldn't be real. It was a dream, right? No... she couldn't wake up from this dream... it was real.

"What... just happened...? He's got some kind of jutsu that masks his presence, scent, and even chakra completely..." Yuki said, getting up.

"A rogue?" Sasuke inferred.

"I thought so... but the way he erased his presence... isn't... normal." Yuki haltingly gets up. It's clear that she was worse for the wear. "I'm sorry, Asuka... Sasuke... I've been defeated..."

"Yuki?" Sasuke asked, somewhat surprised. But Asuka was a bit more yelling. "Yuki-chan!?"

Seeing that the two were safe, Yuki sighs in relief and collapses again. They had to get to sensei as soon as possible...! Asuka hoisted Yuki on her shoulders, and nodded to the Uchiha. As much as she didn't like him, she'd have to cooperate to save Yuki. They took their bag of little meat (Because all they caught was a single squirrel), and ran to the senseis.

* * *

"Ayaka-sensei! Kakashi-sensei!" Asuka called. The senseis turned.

"Jeez, Sasuke... Asuka-chan, what took you s-OHHHHHH..." Naruto said.

"Kakashi-sem-Kakashi." Ayaka said. Kakashi nodded and the two got Yuki into one of the tents.

In a short time, they came out.

"-I heard that as well, but there's no guarantee. Also; it's a different direction from where we're going. I could understand Shimogakure or something, but Takigakure? Are you sure?" Ayaka said, now serious.

"It's our only chance. If not..." Kakashi said.

"In the morning." she debated.

"No, n-"

"In the morning."

"... Fine." He agreed. "Everyone, we're leaving in the morning for a side quest off to Takigakure."

"The land hidden in the waterfall?" Sakura translated.

"Yeah. In the meantime, get some rest. Morning comes quickly." Ayaka said.

Asuka and Sasuke went into Yuki's tent. She was taking shaky breaths and tired.

"Um... I'm sorry... I've been mostly restored, and since it seemed that you had grown as well, I... kind of let my guard down... even if it didn't seem like it, I thought in some weird sense of self-righteousness that I could protect you by being cautious... I'm sorry... I'm sure I'll be healed enough to fight soon... please, don't over exert yourself until then..." Yuki muttered.

Both Asuka and Sasuke imagined how much it hurt Yuki to speak. She must've been really worried. She must've foreseen Kage's assassination attempt. That had to have been why she tried so hard to protect the two by herself, so that she and him would have nothing to worry about. However, the enemy somehow overcame her vigilance. Focused on protecting them, Yuki never thought she'd become a target.

"I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...! I... because of my conceit, I almost lost the people I most want to save..."

Yuki had no reason to apologize for any of that. Asuka should've been the one paying attention. The responsibility for Kage's successful ambush was hers alone. Guilty, she had to at least do something to help Yuki recover as quickly as possible. She owed her that much for protecting the two.

"You mustn't push yourself." Asuka claimed.

* * *

When she woke up, Asuka hadn't processed yesterday's events. Yuki fell asleep in the tent, but it's morning and she hadn't woken up yet. That was a problem. Looking at Yuki, the words of Kage's invisible partner's taunted her. They started running/walking through the forest.

_Death is inescapable._

Death.

Was Yuki going to die? The strong, wise friend who's always defended stupid her might really die? As much as Asuka's heart wanted to deny it, her brain refused. Yuki sucks in labored breaths, but didn't awaken. She had to do something. But knowing that she had to do SOMETHING didn't mean she knew WHAT to do. She assumed the senseis had it figured out.

* * *

They went to the village hidden in the waterfall, while Asuka pondered. The senseis seemed unworried. This angered her a bit. They obviously weren't going to do anything. When she rushed out of the room to collect her thoughts, she ran into a woman. A big-breasted woman, to be certain.

"Hey, watch it." The lady taunted.

"Oh, sorry... good morning to you..." Asuka absentmindedly replied.

"Ah, Tsunade-sama." Ayaka said. "We were looking for you."

"Hm? What for?" She growled.

"We have a student that's injured." Kakashi piped in.

"I refuse." Tsunade turned.

"Tsunade-sama! You can't just turn down like that!" The lady next to her claimed.

"Ah, Shizune. Long time no see." Ayaka said.

"Hmm? Shizune, do you know her?" Tsunade glanced.

"We-well, we went to the Academy together..." The subordinate nervously grinned. "She's not a bad person... but still, Tsunade! That girl looks seriously injured!"

"Hmph. What kind of greeting is this?" Tsunade asked. When she got no response, she sighed.

"What happened?" Tsunade asked.

The woman's worried tone jump-started Asuka's addled mind into processing things again. The first thing she noticed was that Asuka's face was stiff with worry.

"Well, there was this dude, right? And so, um, he uh... well, a couple nights ago he was after me, I dunno what happened with Yuki-chan or how she gained info, but uh... he attacked me, and I was alive... and so the next day we went on a joint mission with Team Kakashi, and we er... were ordered to go looking for food in groups so it was me, Yuki-chan and Sasuke, and then this guy called Nakamura Kage came out of nowhere and attacked us and Yuki tried to defend us and then another dude came out of literally nowhere and we couldn't sense him at all, right? And um... he hit Yuki-chan or something and she fell and now she's like this and I don't know what's wrong with her, could you possibly heal her?" Asuka asked all in one breath.

"Um... what?" Tsunade asked.

"I'll translate; Asuka-chan met a weirdo and he was after her. She survived obviously, and the next day our mission was announced and while we were through the forest while she, Sasuke and Yuki were looking for food. A guy named Nakamura Kage came out of nowhere and Yuki failed defending us because of a sneak attack from another place and Yuki got injured and now we have no idea whatsoever what's wrong with her." Akai translated.

"Nakamura Kage?" Tsunade asked. "Did I hear you properly?"

"That's what she said." Akai claimed.

"What's the matter, Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked.

"According to rumors, he's part of the 'Pre-Akatsuki.'"

"Pre-Akatsuki?" Kakashi and Ayaka parroted.

"The pre-Akatsuki is a team that trains under the Akatsuki. They're Akatsuki to-be members, and frankly, to put it bluntly, they're bad news. If it's a choice between siding with you guys or them, I'll choose you. Got any complaints?" Tsunade said.

Asuka didn't have any objections. In fact, she was deeply grateful that she could draw on a medical ninja as strong as Tsunade.

"Thank you so much." Asuka smiled. Tsunade grinned a bit.

"It's no big deal, okay? Anyway, what's wrong with your friend there? I don't sense strong chakra from her." Tsunade asked.

Ah, that was right... That was right! Tsunade might know a way to revive Yuki!

"What?! You were attacked by Nakamura Kage?!" Tsunade asked.

"Yeah. But there was another guy there." Asuka claimed, "And he did this to Yuki-chan."

"Shuji Ly." Tsunade said.

"Um... god bless you?" Asuka suggested.

"No, I was just thinking of a man. He's vile. He stole the Byakugan from the Hyuuga clan. He can even walk in the village freely because everyone would think he was a Hyuuga. He ripped out both eyes and implanted them in his own. Now he can use Gentle Fist freely." Tsunade said grimly, "Along with acquiring it to his other techniques."

"Yuki's asleep still." Asuka claimed. Tsuande ruminated for a moment.

"She's still asleep, huh? Let's go to the nearest inn." Tsunade insisted. "I may know a way to revive your injured friend."

Definitely not saying no to that, Asuka nodded curtly and accompanied Tsunade to the nearest inn. Yuki could at least rest peacefully there.

* * *

As they got in the room, Tsunade examined Yuki.

"This is... some new type of virus? No... it's more like energy that has it's own will... Tainted blood. This is a lot worse then I thought. It's like a tornado upended all the chakra circuits in her body, meaning the conduits that provide chakra for yourself no longer function properly. The check is getting lost in the mail, so to speak. Why she's even breathing is a miracle itself. Most people would be dead by now. And you stayed a whole night? Amazing." Tsunade said, and sighed while turning to the senseis. "Let me explain. Everyone's body is sustained by a flow of chakra from yourself. Without that chakra, you'd die. What Yuki's relying on right now is someone else's chakra reserves right now... whose I'm unsure of. But that source is finite. Unless supply from herself resumes, she'll only last a few more days."

"Okay, I grasp the situation." Shizune nodded.

"I'll compose a plan of action, so come see me later." Tsunade said.

* * *

As Asuka walked through the town alone, she went into the forest to do some training.

"Oh, I see you're in fine health. Are you alone? Wherever might your friend be?" A voice called.

Asuka gasped. She twirled around to find the source of the voice, but there was no one there. She didn't sense or hear anyone. But there was no mistaking that was the voice of Kage's partner! In other words, the malicious, unknown man who incapacitated Yuki yesterday. Just hearing the sound of his voice petrified her and made her break out into a cold sweat. She tried to flee, but her body rejected the command.

"Ahah!" the voice laughed. "No need to be so tense. I merely happen to be taking a leisurely stroll on my own."

"So what you're saying is that if Kage isn't telling you to, you aren't interested in fighting me?" Asuka asked.

"Hmm? Why such surprise? I'm not so savage to deal death when there is no need... although I do applaud that you've learned to be more cautious after your fight with us. He and I are kindred spirits, but I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I killed as often as him." The unseen man laughs heartily. Asuka got the impression he wasn't the unrestrained killer Kage was.

"Listen. I only kill one person every fight. That just means one person will unequivocally die. But... it seems that your friend still lives? Take pride in that friend, shinobi. For they evaded my fist, if only for an instant. Hmph. It'll be a pity that I will be forced to kill an opponent I have enjoyed more than any before." the voice claimed.

A... pity...? Maybe Kage's partner wasn't the mad hellhound that Asuka thought he was.

"Then maybe you'll be willing to heal Yuki-chan-" she suggested, but was cut off.

"Stay your request. As much as I'd like to assist you, my fists bring only destruction. My fists are murderous things, only able to rend the flesh and break the bones of the human body. The number that survive is zero. So as you see, I am no honorable warrior, just an executioner, so you must aid your friend with your own hands if I am to have an enjoyable fight. Good day, then. I enthusiastically anticipate you and your servant's eventual retaliation."

After those last words, the air was suddenly less tense. Did he leave? Anyway, there was no sense in standing around and wallowing in her own powerlessness. She ran to the inn.

* * *

"To put it bluntly, Yuki's remaining self-chakra is at less than ten percent of normal. If the wires don't reconnect, she'll be essentially dead by the end of tomorrow." Tsuande said.

"Dead by tomorrow...?!" Asuka panicked. "Whatever the case, what can I do before tomorrow comes? How can I supply her or help her chakra-?!"

"Don't panic just yet. All we need to do is find her a temporary supply of chakra." Tsunade said. Asuka could tell the woman was confident in her knowledge.

"If you know a way to do it, I'm all for it." Asuka nodded.

"Is that so? Alright then, let's do it. I should probably let you know what's going to happen." For a moment, Tsunade looks down and at Shizune, but then continues as if she's come to a decision.

"For a short time, I'll use your chakra send to Yuki. If things go well, this shouldn't be a problem." Tsunade said.

Asuka would be using her own powers? It seemed really... unfathomable. She wondered if she could really do it. Even after hearing what Tsunade planned to do, she couldn't begin to imagine how it'd work.

"Your chakra will run through Yuki, but that's just a matter of schematics and such." Tsunade said.

It may have seemed like a big deal and all, but then was definitely not the time for hesitation.

"So what do you need me to do?" Asuka asked.

Tsunade handed Asuka a black cube.

"This is...?" Asuka questioned.

"It gathers chakra samples. So generally, it sucks your chakra up like a straw. When you feel tired, you let go. But for your circumstances, let go when I tell you to." Tsunade claimed.

After a few moments, Tsunade nodded. Asuka dropped it in Tsunade's hands.

"Now, hopefully you can bypass Takigakure's security and allow you to send chakra from there." Tsunade claimed.

"Ehh?! Is this illegal?!" Asuka asked.

"Have you heard of the Hero Water in Takigakure?" Tsunade asked. When a confused Asuka shook her head, Tsunade explained, "The Hero Water is from Takigakure and it allows a ninja to have at least a ten-fold increase in chakra for a short period of time. In exchange for this power, the water shortens the user's life span by the number of times their chakra is increased. Since your chakra is already immense, you'll only have to increase once. While Yuki burns off your chakra, her wires should be able to heal. For now, head to the waterfall. I'll fill you in on the details there."

Asuka was glad she spoke with Tsunade. She was sure everything would turn out okay... somehow. For now, she'd better head into the waterfall, like Tsunade said.

* * *

Asuka ran to the forest alone, holding her transceiver closer to her ear for the details. She came upon a sign that was labeled "DO NOT ENTER."

"I'm at the arena entrance. What do I do now?" Asuka asked. When she got no reply, she looked worried. Should she go in or not?

Deciding to go, she wondered how she'd get over in the first place, she looked at her mirror. That's it!

She lifted herself up, just as she would the mirror. Like she was in water, she was going up slowly. Using the fence as a prop-up board, she climbed it. Catching sight of the waterfall, she climbed slowly up. After the top, she dropped to the ground.

"Um... going into the forest with A and S rank ninja would be stupid... and dangerous... I'm... coming with you!" Asuka turned to see Yuki behind her. How did she get over the fence-?! Oh god, never mind that, if she went over the fence she must've at least used SOME chakra.

Asuka was planning on entering the forest alone, but Yuki would have noticed immediately... it's obvious that Yuki was in no condition to fight effectively, if at all. However, she had no choice but to have Yuki join her. The fact is that if Asuka entered the arena alone, she wouldn't last a minute. The enemy's arrived and Yuki said she would fight, injuries and all. Knowing the consequences of her actions, she wanted Yuki to fight alongside her anyway. Of course, you probably expected nothing less from the one you've fought alongside with.

"Now that's the Asuka I know! Anyway, death and battle go hand in hand. Regardless of my condition, protecting you is the only thing that matters to me." Yuki said, and the two trotted inside.

* * *

"-_ear me_?" Her headpiece asked. "_Can you hear me?_" Tsunade's voice asked

"Loud and clear," replied Asuka.

"_Good. Looks like I have everything connected properly. After a cursory glance, it looks like there are six less guarded points. I've marked those places in the forest, so get going and locate them all._" Tsunade called.

The two ran through the forest. Asuka held up the black cube. "_That's one of the markers there." _Tsunade said, before saying, "_This one's useless. The few shinobi are really complex."_

Next. "_This one is no good, either. Hurry, move on to the next marker._"

_"Nope. Next."_

_"If they catch wind of what we're doing, we'll get blasted to kingdom come..."_

_"Argh! This is pissing me off! Why're all these shinobi so damned annoying?!" _

_"Ugh. Takigakure's protective barriers sure are tough to penetrate..."_

_"Nope. Too heavily guarded."_

And finally, "_Bingo! We should be able to break in here! Get it._" Tsunade sighed, relief clear through the headpiece.

Asuka took a small canteen and stuffed it into where she put her ninja tools.

"You're done. You can return whenever you finish your other stuff. We'll continue at the inn." Tsunade claimed.

"Got it." Asuka replied.

Ah, no sooner had she replied in acknowledgment than a chakra with a feel of death sent chills through Asuka's body. She whirled around to see...!

"I think your victory declaration may have been premature." Kage said. "Our prey is running free when they should be rotting. What is this, did you take mercy on them?" Kage asked.

"Kyahahahahah!" The familiar voice bellowed. "No, not at all. I'd say they were just good enough to evade the full force of my strike."

"I see. Then this time, let's be sure and leave them corpses." Kage grinned.

Urk... Yuki wasn't in any condition to fight properly... but they had no choice but to defend themselves... but she'd never win, challenging this fierce opponent while Yuki was exhausted like this. She needed to escape somehow, but... she was facing the harshest of all the enemies she'd encountered so far. He and his partner were like a pair of hawks who would only revel in swooping down on their fleeing prey. She had to prepare for the worst...

"Asuka! I'm going to do a forced withdrawal on you!" Tsunade yelled through the headpiece. Accompanying her voice was a sharp throb as if you got pushed hard and hit a wall. No sooner than she hears Tsunade's voice does darkness expand around her. Asuka's vision went black and all her senses were snuffed out. The darkness forces her to clench her eyes shut and she gives her body over to a strong gravitational pull. It was as though her body was being compressed into a single point and then removed from the Hero Water area. Her consciousness condenses like two dimensions becoming one and travelling to the far beyond. In that strange timespace...

She heard Ayaka's voice.

"Damn, it's taking up so much chakra, and it's so precise!" The voice called. "I have to cut the connection quickly or... huh? Wait, this..." Her voice wavers, as if she's so shocked she could hardly speak.

"No way. Yuki's missing." She softly mutters the searing truth.

* * *

**Ahahahahhahah! I love cliffhangers! Nah, I probably would've continued but this seemed like enough. And waaay longer than my normal chapters, too. So I cut it in half, for your convenience... but also your demise. I'm planning for this to be a three-chapter arc (This, the next and the after.) **

**Ahem. Well, not forcing you but I am waiting for your reviews, especially considering this is BY FAR not the worst Naruto fanfiction out there, and I'd like it if I had a reviewer. (You know, not counting CherryPanda or bottleofbeast.)**

**Um... since I'm running ideas I'll cut to the reviews.**

**bottleofbeast: ****Aww yeahh. Can't wait to see the review on this chappy. (That sounds like a new sort of British Tea. "Would you like some Chappy?" heh.) Anyway, to cut to the end. And yes, I understand you ship gay pairings but not all of them. Like you told me you like Naruhina Sasunaru. And totally dude, I think that's fine. Don't worry, Yuki has a bigger objective. She needs to learn to protect everyone and not just the one individual she needs to. And Kage? He's creepy as... Voldemort with a nose. But also; Akiko will have a bigger role through the story, so don't worry. :)**

**CherryPanda: Yeeeaaah! Team Awesome! Also, I love the floating mirror. It's cool. I wonder if you've figured out Asuka's main nature style yet. Um... don't expect ONE DAY FROM ME. AT LEAST A WEEK, MAX THREE MONTHS. :D And as you can see, Nakamura Kage isn't the one who did that, though he is quite me lu- Thanks. -_-**

**And the next chapter will probably be a doozy, too! **

**~Feed MI reviews!~**


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